When I tell people that I’m collecting mushrooms in summer or fall, they usually reply, “I didn’t know that you could find morels at this time of year.”  The only wild mushrooms most people harvest is the morel which fruits in late April and early May in Decatur County. They are missing many other edible mushrooms that fruit throughout the growing season from late May until hard fall frost. Not only are many of them delicious, but some have been used for thousands of years in herbal medicine.  They are reputed to help treat numerous ailments. Studies have proven some of these benefits, but there is still much speculation about how effective they are.

Oyster mushrooms fruiting from downed hickory

Oyster mushrooms, Pleurotus ostreatus, fruit in overlapping shelves on dead elm and hickory throughout the growing season.  A choice edible this white or grayish brown medium-sized mushroom, has soft gills that run down the short stem. Besides being a choice edible it contains the statin lovastin. A number of animal studies have shown that eating oyster mushrooms can lower cholesterol. Research has also shown that this species helps fight various cancers. To cook, sauté the mushrooms with garlic in butter and olive oil, and toss with pasta and parsley.  They can also be substituted for cultivated mushrooms in many recipes.

Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa

Hen of the Woods, Grifola frondosa, grows in clusters from the base of oak trees in the fall. A perennial, it often grows in the same place year after year.  This soft, fleshy polypore is composed of individual overlapping fruiting branches that constitute a large fruiting body, as much as 60 cm across. Also known as maitake, it is prized in traditional Chinese and Japanese herbology. Not only does it enhance the immune system, but it has also been shown to inhibit growth of cancer cells, regulate insulin and blood pressure, and lower cholesterol.

Reishi mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum

Reishi mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, reputed to be the mushroom of immortality, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2000 years. The varnished red, kidney-shaped cap of this corky polypore has white pores underneath. I find it fruiting from the same downed silver maple year after year. The most highly prized of the medicinal fungi, reishi, is used as a tonic to support general wellness and vitality. It is also reputed to inhibit the growth of malignant tumors, treat liver diseases, treat viral diseases, lower blood pressure, and help regulate cholesterol.  It’s bitter taste and corky texture do not make it suitable for eating.  Instead, it is prepared as hot water extract: soak overnight in water to soften the flesh, then cut into thin slices and simmer in boiling water, covered for two hours. Sweeten and drink as a tea.

When collecting fungi for consumption it is important to make sure of the identity of each species.  Some mushrooms are highly poisonous. To learn more about collecting fungi attend a foray of your local mushroom club. (listing is available at the NAMA website)

Many other fungi commonly found in the Iowa woodlands have a wide spectrum of beneficial properties. You may find a complete listing in Medicinal Mushrooms by Christopher Hobbs. (Botanica Press, Summertown, Tennessee. 1986)

My mother didn’t believe in modern pharmacology. She believed in herbal medicine:  instead of Alka Selzer she dispensed peppermint tea, marshmallow root instead of cough syrup and chamomile tea for sleeplessness and to soak infected wounds.  She even had an illustrated folio of medicinal plants that she had brought with her when my family left Germany.  Under each drawing were listed the specifics of each plant: Volksnamen (common names) Blütezeit (when it blooms), Verkommen (where found), Verwendung (which part of the plant to use and what for), Sammelzeit (when to collect the plant material)

Page from German herbal

When Bill and I married I was happy to substitute real medicine for Mother’s herbal cures.  It was Bill who brought me back full circle.  As a dentist he taught his patients the importance of preventive care and personal responsibility for their dental health.  The primary dental disease is not tooth decay, but periodontitis.  And periodontal disease can only be controlled by healthy habits and good oral hygiene.  Preventive care and a person’s responsibility for his own health extended into our home.  We looked for ways to prevent getting sick.

After we moved to the farm I naturalized purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in the vegetable garden. In 1997 I read a New York Times “Cuttings” article by Anne Raver which detailed how to extract the antibiotic qualities from Echinacea as a tonic for feeling run down or a cold coming on.  I thought, “Why not?” The recipe is very simple:  dig up a three year old plant, cut off the roots, scrub them well, and cut them into small pieces.  Then soak them in vodka (cheap is fine) for 1-2 weeks to extract the antibiotic properties, and strain into a clean, stoppered bottle. It doesn’t taste very good so we keep it in the freezer.  It’s more palatable when really cold.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

My family calls this concoction the magic potion because it really does work. Our son, Alex, recently gave some to a friend. She took a spoonful after waking up with a sore throat. The next day, when she was still feeling under the weather, she took another spoonful.  The third day she was perfectly healthy.  Then she called Alex.  “Is your mother a witch?” she asked him. “You’ve told me it’s just Echinacea but I think it’s magic. ”

(The current (Fall 2011) issue of Woodlands and Prairies Magazine focuses on oak savanna restoration with several articles about ongoing efforts in Decatur County.  It includes an article about the Timberhill restoration.)

This year Bill and I will celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary.  Not only is it hard to believe that our marriage has lasted this long, but that it gets better each year.  Before we moved to Timberhill our relationship had followed the course of many marriages.  We led separate lives.  Bill focused on his dental practice with leisure time spent on the golf course.  My job was taking care of our children and the household.  I pursued individual interests in my spare time.  Once the children were grown we spent less and less time together as a family.  Although we had an active social life and plenty of interests our existence lacked substance.  We needed a change of scene.

We traveled extensively looking for the perfect place. We immersed ourselves in  Italian country life, food, and wine at a Tuscan estate.  For several weeks we basked in the sunshine of  the Provence countryside.  We fell in love with the Florida Keys but couldn’t imagine living there full time. The stark beauty of the southwestern U.S. was appealing but no matter where we travelled we realized that the terroir of Iowa suited us best.

Our decision to move to Decatur County, Iowa was a complete departure from life in town.  Our friends couldn’t believe that we would exchange a comfortable life in Des Moines for one of the poorest, least populated counties in Iowa. “You’re moving where?” they asked in disbelief.

Despite some misgivings we made the move in 1993.  We were compelled by the beauty of the land – the stately oak trees and wildflowers,  remnants of a once flourishing oak savanna. We traded our house in the city for 200 acres of overstocked woodland and prairie openings.  We traded Saturday night dinner parties for quiet evenings at home.  Bill traded weekend golf for clearing trails and chopping wood.  I traded community work for learning the plants and fungi.  Together we shared a common goal:  to restore our overstocked woodlands and overgrown prairie openings.  The work has transformed our relationship into a true partnership.  It was work that neither could do without the other.

At Timberhill today

Each year that Bill and I spend at Timberhill the land becomes more a part of us.  Just as the plants and trees are endemic to this place so are we.  Timberhill has become so much a part of our being that we do very little travelling. We leave too much of ourselves behind.

It’s that time of year. From mid-November when the oak leaves have fallen until snow covers the ground it’s prescribed burn season at Timberhill.  We have found that annual dormant season burns have the least impact  and best meet our goal to control woody undergrowth and stimulate fresh new growth of forbs and graminoids.  But getting it done each year is easier said than done.  First of all the volunteers who help us burn work full time during the week and can only help on weekends.  So the weather has to cooperate.   Then we have to find four people to help.  Our regular crew consists of three people so we’re always looking for a fourth.  Given the criticism we have had of our burn regimen it would be easy to find excuses not to burn every year.

Although one may vary the timing with occasional late summer or fall burns, prevailing opinion supports a regimen of  spring burns where one third of a site is burned each year on a three year rotation.   The primary criticism of our burn regimen, therefore, is one of timing. Instead of spring we always burn during the dormant season (November 15-April 1) when fire does the least damage.   We ignite each burn unit along the firebreaks and do not reignite what doesn’t  burn inside the unit. This results in a patchy burn. Because of the low fuel load annual fire scuds over the surface and does not heat the soil preserving the underground fungi and microbes.   A study by Dr. Sandra Rideout-Hanzak (Texas A &M University-Kingsville) recorded ground temperature on thermocouples placed in the ground prior to and after a dormant season burn .  The thermocouples did not record any temperature change one inch below ground.

After burn photo showing unburned wildflower stalks and leaf litter

Plants and animals are least vulnerable to fire during this time of year.  They are not reproducing, and the reptiles and small mammals are hibernating.   Insects are in diapause and fire adapted species have burrowed into the ground.  Late fall and winter burns leave many partially burned and unburned patches that retain habitat  for leaf litter dwelling insects often the most affected by prescribed burns. Their populations will decline after a burn, but recolonize quickly  on the abundance of lush plants stimulated  by fire.

The studies that suggest  insects are being extirpated from fire managed sites and that fire exclusion will result in greater species richness and populations has been disproved by Ron Panzer and Mark Schwartz. Their paper “Effects of management burning on prairie insect species richness within a system of small, highly fragmented reserves” compared the population density and species richness of remnant dependent insects in Chicago area burned and unburned prairie remnants.  In sites burned as frequently as every two years they found that,  ”Prevailing rotational, cool season burning practices have generally been compatible with the conservation of insect biodiversity within the highly fragmented prairie reserve system in the Chicago region.”

Of the 27 butterfly species studied, four were found exclusively on fire managed sites. This was also true of the 67 leafhoppers studied:  19 occurred exclusively on fire-managed sites.  Even fire-sensitive species “occurred in significantly greater numbers within fire-managed sites.” This paper concludes that “In contradiction to the predictions of these observers [fire attrition advocates], the data presented here suggest that rotational burning has contributed to the protection of several species that would otherwise have been lost.”  In other words fire managed sites create habitat for conservative species not found in unburned sites.

Regal fritillary at Timberhill

This is certainly true at Timberhill.  In only two days here last summer. Biologist Laura Rericha was able to collect  29 species of native bees.   Two were very conservative species. A study she made of Timberhill ants identified 57 species, two of which were Iowa records. The Timberhill butterfly list includes 14 skipper species and  continues to grow each year.   Even regal fritillaries are observed nectaring on butterfly milkweed each summer.     So whenever I am tempted to give in to prevailing opinion and change our burn regimen I  recall the adage, “Don’t fix what isn’t broken.”

You have to look closely to spot either of these two species, the Goldenrod crab spider and the Goldenrod stowaway moth. Both fend off predators by camouflaging themselves in the inflorescences of yellow flowering plants such as goldenrod.

On a sunny afternoon last month I was in the Hidden Prairie looking for native pollinators on goldenrod when I saw a honeybee hanging at an odd angle from a goldenrod inflorescence.  It wasn’t until I looked closely that I could see that the bee had been caught in a Goldenrod crab spider’s fangs.   This spider does not spin a web.  It sits in wait on goldenrod and ambushes its prey.    The spider’s  venomous bite paralyzes the prey, then it liquefies the body contents and sucks it dry.

Goldenrod crab spider and honeybee prey

Camouflage is the Goldenrod crab spider’s, Misumina vatia, primary defense.   In this photo you can see how well this Misumina blended into the goldenrod blossom before it ambushed the honeybee.    Misumina prefers to hunt from goldenrod since this species attracts so many pollinators.  However,  it can change color (yellow or white) over a period of several days to blend into other flowers.

Goldenrod stowaway moth

Later that day we saw this  goldenrod stowaway moth, Cirrophanus triangulifer,   spending the day in a Bur marigold, Bidens polylepis, along the driveway.  Bright golden yellow with deeper gold-ochraceous markings it blends in perfectly with yellow inflorescences.   On wing in August and September its  larvae feed on Bidens species.

Bur Marigold, Bidens polylepis